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Formation of Field-Reversed-Configuration Plasma with Punctuated-Betatron-Orbit Electrons

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Formation of Field-Reversed-Configuration Plasma with Punctuated-Betatron-Orbit Electrons Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory PPPL- Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC02-09CH11466. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Report Disclaimers Full Legal Disclaimer This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or any third party’s use or the results of such use of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof or its contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Trademark Disclaimer Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof or its contractors or subcontractors. PPPL Report Availability Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory: http://www.pppl.gov/techreports.cfm Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI): http://www.osti.gov/bridge Related Links: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information Fusion Links 1 Formation of field-reversed-configuration plasma with punctuated-betatron-orbit electrons D. R. Welch,a S. A. Cohen,b T. C. Genoni,a A.H. Glasserc aVoss Scientific, Albuquerque, NM 87108 bPrinceton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08544 cDept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 submitted: January 6, 2010 revised: March 26, 2010 Abstract We describe ab initio, self-consistent, 3D, fully electromagnetic numerical simulations of current drive and field-reversed-configuration plasma formation by odd-parity rotating magnetic fields (RMFo). Magnetic-separatrix formation and field reversal are attained from an initial mirror configuration. A population of punctuated-betatron-orbit electrons, generated by the RMFo, carries the majority of the field-normal azimuthal electrical current responsible for field reversal. Appreciable current and plasma pressure exist outside the magnetic separatrix whose shape is modulated by the RMFo phase. The predicted plasma density and electron energy distribution compare favorably with RMFo experiments. 2 Electrical currents may be generated in magnetized plasma by a number of electrode-less methods. Inductive, radiofrequency-wave,1 energetic-beam-injection,2,3 and bootstrap4 techniques are widely used to drive currents parallel to the magnetic field while perpendicular currents may be generated by beam injection,5,6 diamagnetism, the thermoelectric effect,7 and rotating magnetic fields (RMF).8 The latter group is particularly relevant to field-reversed-configuration (FRC)9 plasma, see Figure 1a), unique among toroidal plasma in having only poloidal magnetic field and a magnetic null on the magnetic axis where the plasma energy density is highest. Producing current at the null is particularly difficult.7 This paper will provide physical insights, supported by detailed self-consistent calculations, into a novel non-resonant radio-frequency technique whose symmetry properties promote direct and efficient generation of field-normal currents in FRCs, even on-axis. FRC-like plasmas are frequent in planetary and astrophysical settings.10 They are also created in the laboratory and therein used to study magnetic relaxation and reconnection processes,11 and stability and transport12,13 and to explore FRCs as potential fusion reactors.14,15,16 Many powerful methods of plasma theory, including magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), gyrofluid, drift-wave- instability,17 and even Taylor relaxation18 models are deficient for FRC plasma because of the distinctive FRC properties.19 Detailed understanding of and predictive capabilities for FRC plasma behavior require new theoretical tools. RMFs, primarily of even parity (RMFe), have been used to form and sustain FRC plasmas and to heat their electrons. Odd-parity RMFs (RMFo) are predicted to perform the aforementioned and additional functions, such as heating ions,20 improving confinement21 and increasing stability.22 15,23 Recent experimental studies of RMFo have provided limited support for certain of these predictions. The new theoretical tools for FRCs must also properly treat RMFo, which, amongst other effects, removes axial symmetry and adds a new characteristic time scale, the rotational 3 period, placing even more stringent demands on a plasma model. Herein, we describe specific 24 reasons for a particle-in-cell (PIC) method for modeling the RMFo/FRC and results uncovered using it. One important result is that the electrical current is not predominantly carried by smoothly drifting or circulating particles but by electrons whose trajectories alternate between fast- circulating, higher energy (low collisionality, ν) betatron orbits and slowly drifting, lower energy 25 cyclotron orbits, with a net time-averaged azimuthal speed, 〈vφ,e〉, nearly equal to the RMFo’s. This ratchet-like motion, see Figure 1b) and inset, which we term punctuated betatron orbits, has been observed in our earlier single-particle simulations20 but never before in a self-consistent simulation in which the effects of the full electron distribution function on resistivity, microinstability, and transport are included. Moreover, RMFo current drive does not depend on a wave-particle resonance central to the high efficiency method of Fisch26 hence can operate at a slow wave phase velocity and still generate high-energy low-ν electrons. A distinguishing feature of RMFo is a time-varying azimuthal electric field, "! , generated near and on the plasma mid-plane (z = 0), which also contains the defining O-point field null line, the FRC’s magnetic axis. Importantly, "! has both clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW) regions that rotate at ωR, the RMFo frequency, see Fig. 1b). Cyclotron-orbit electrons in the CW region E×B drift towards the null line, become betatron orbits, and then accelerate along the null. These betatron-orbit electrons then enter the CCW region, decelerate, become cyclotron orbits and slowly drift away from the null line, waiting for the RMFo to bring the CW "! region back to them to begin the ratchet-like azimuthal motion anew. MHD or gyrokinetic models cannot properly treat a null or the direct and rapid "! -driven particle acceleration near the null line. These models are also far from adequate when either the ion or electron gyroradius, ρi,e, is a significant fraction of the separatrix radius, rs. Test-particle 4 techniques can accurately model ion or electron dynamics, even in the null region, but neglect the plasma response to the RMFo, such as whether the RMFo penetrates the plasma, if RMFo causes the magnetic-flux-surface shape to evolve, or whether turbulence develops and alters plasma dynamics. By using PIC techniques, the present study avoids these deficiencies and provides the first fully self-consistent description of FRC formation from an initial low-β (ratio of plasma kinetic pressure to magnetic-field energy density) mirror plasma configuration. For concreteness, we model a specific RMFo device, the Princeton Field-Reversed Configuration (PFRC)15,27, sketched in Figure 1a). An 80-cm-long Pyrex cylinder is the vacuum vessel. Internal are 6 coaxial magnetic-flux-conserving copper rings (FC), three on each side of the midplane. External to the Pyrex vessel and symmetric about its midplane is the RMFo antenna. Typical RMFo characteristics are field strength BR ~ 10 G and frequency !R / 2" =14 MHz. At an axial field at the FRC's center of Ba =100 G, 90"ci ~ "R ~ "ce /20 , where !c = qBa / mc is the particle cyclotron frequency, m is the particle mass, q is the particle charge, and subscripts e and i refer to electron ! and ion, respectively. A static mirror-configuration magnetic field is created by coaxial coils located near z = ±45 cm and z = ±105 cm. Nominally, these coils produce an initial axial bias field of strength Bo = 50 G at z = 0 cm and 2000 kG at z = ±45 cm. A necessary goal is for the RMFo to produce sufficient azimuthal plasma current to reverse the magnetic field at r = z = 0 cm. When this occurs, the field (Ba = -Be) at the FRC’s center is about twice larger in magnitude than Bo. At the application of RMFo power to the PFRC, the density rapidly rises. Within the first few µs, a near steady state is 12 -3 reached in which the plasma parameters are typically ne = 0.7-3 × 10 cm , Te =300-100 eV, and Ti ∼1 eV. 5 28,29 PIC simulations, now described, were performed with the Large Scale Plasma (LSP) code. LSP uses an explicit PIC algorithm, with standard particle-advance techniques augmented by a 30 novel energy-conserving push that avoids the so-called Debye-length numerical instability. LSP uses a temporally implicit, non-iterative, unconditionally stable electromagnetic field solver31 and a cloud-in-cell linear interpolation technique between particle locations and grid boundaries. Approximately 200 particles per cell are used for each particle species. The RMFo antennae are modeled with a sinusoidal current. The applied magnetic fields from the small- and large-bore coils at both ends of the PFRC are pre-calculated from a magnetostatic solution. Particles striking axial, radial and FC boundaries are removed from the simulation. The spatial extent of the LSP simulation is r = {0,5} cm, ! = {0,2"}, and z = {!50,+50} cm, with grid spacings of Δ r = 0.15 cm, Δφ = π /4, and Δz = 0.2 cm. The explicit time-step limitation "1 -11 6 requires #t < ! pe (∼ 10 s), corresponding to about 10 time steps.
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